


laugh away the fear

by bunkernine (partlycharlie)



Series: intertwined [2]
Category: Percy Jackson and the Olympians - Rick Riordan
Genre: Disabled Character, Dom/sub Undertones, Fluff, M/M, Subspace, it's barely there but i wrote this with that in mind so be aware i guess, that's right baby we're back in business
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-06
Updated: 2019-07-06
Packaged: 2020-06-22 07:57:39
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,440
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19663099
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/partlycharlie/pseuds/bunkernine
Summary: Leo’s smile widens into a grin, something mischievous in the twist of his mouth, his eyes crinkling a little bit at the corners.(Sometimes, the love in his heart dims into something quiet, just for a second, but Leo smiles at him like that and it jumpstarts like a bass drum.)





	laugh away the fear

**Author's Note:**

> remember like five months ago when i was like "also be on the lookout maybe subscribe to me because i'm writing a newbutseparate fic in this verse"????????  
> :)))) Here You Go :)))))))  
> (basically i wrote a bunch and then forgot about it for three months and then was trying to meet my word goal for today and happened upon it and here it is)
> 
> it's been in my WIP drawer for 5 months! please take it! no returns!
> 
> hope you enjoy <33

The door clicks open, and Jason glances up from his computer to look at Leo. He’s just as dirty as normal - streaks of oil painting his arms, a dirty washcloth hanging from his toolbelt, hair plastered down to his head from the surprise rainstorm, specks of dirt visible underneath his fingernails. 

He’s beautiful, and Jason tells him so, watching him drop his keys into the bowl sitting by the door. “Hey, beautiful.”

Leo rolls his eyes, crouching down to unlace the ties on his sneakers (the old Converse, today - he had taken on a new project, and he hadn’t wanted to get the Docs dirty. He probably regrets it now, though, considering the grimace on his face as his socks make the wet _squelch_ sound they always do when it rains). “Hey, Jace. How was your day?”

“Mmm, good,” Jason replies, getting up from his desk. He stretches - _shit_ , he only realizes how long he’s been sitting down when his bones all crack at once - and groans. “Worked on the papers the kids handed in yesterday. How about you? How’s the garage?”

“Oh, it’s looking _awesome_.” He opens the coat closer and throws his shoes in, shrugging off his jacket and hanging it on the rack. “Just got a bike in today? It’s real fucked up - owner crashed into some guy with a DIY - wait, no, that’s not what I meant -” but it’s too late, Jason is already cracking up. 

“A - a DIY? Are you sure that’s, uh. That’s it?” Leo sighs in response, his put-upon disposition ruined by the sappy smile on his face.

“DUI - that’s. Uh.” Leo shakes his head at himself. “That’s what I meant.”

“Yeah, okay.”

“Anyway - yeah. The bike’s looking pretty bad, and like it’s gonna be my main project for a while, at least.”

“That sounds awesome!” Jason takes off his glasses and sets them carefully on the desk, rubbing at his eyes. He always forgets how much he creases his forehead when he has them on, and damn but does it mess with his head. 

Shaking the mild pain off with a toss of his head, he walks over to Leo, who’s bent over, looking into the fridge.

Leo pulls out the water pitcher and stands up. “Yeah, I guess. Just… tiring, y’know? I’m going to have to stay focused on this _one_ thing for a really long time, comparatively.” He sets the pitcher down on the counter closest to the fridge and turns around, straight into Jason’s chest.

Jason smiles fondly. He opens his arms wide and Leo tumbles into them, sighing softly when his face bumps into Jason. Leo sinks in, just a little bit, and Jason’s smile widens.

“Sounds like it,” Jason murmurs, tightening his grip around Leo’s waist and ignoring the way his shirt starts to get wet with Leo’s general rainy-ness.

Leo hums, eyes closed and a drifting smile playing across his lips. “Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah… dunno. It’ll be okay, I think. Just means we might to more takeout on my dinner days, yeah?”

“Of course, baby. Don’t worry about it, okay? I can just cook more.”

“Oh - well, no, I don’t really want you to have to -”

Jason cuts him off with a huff, brushing a hand through Leo’s tangled curls. “I promise - love, I wouldn’t offer to cook more if I didn’t want to. I think it’s really cool that you’re devoting so much to this, and you deserve to be able to come home and not have to worry about food, okay?”

Leo smushes his cheek against Jason’s chest, and rubs his head back and forth a little bit - and this part is how Jason knows he’s tired, because Leo only lets himself be like this when he’s truly exhausted (or in need of a serious break, he thinks, but that tends to happen less often). “Yeah. Yeah, I guess you’re right,” he murmurs.

“As a matter of fact…” Jason pushes Leo away gently, keeping a firm grip on his shoulders. “Why don’t you go get settled? You haven’t showered, you still have the leg on… go get into a home kind of mindset, okay? I’ll order Chinese or something - we’ll have a lazy night in.”

Leo smiles hopefully up at him, impossibly wide eyes staring up at him from underneath thick lashes. “Really?”

Jason nods, smiling softly. He starts dragging his thumbs across the tops of Leo’s shoulders.

“You don’t have anything you need to do? What about the papers?”

“Nah,” he responds, shrugging. “I don't have to give 'em back ‘til next week, and I’m halfway done with them, at any rate.” Jason drops his arms, rolling his eyes a little bit when Leo uses the moment to take a tiny step forward.

“Okay.” Leo’s smile widens into a grin, something mischievous in the twist of his mouth, his eyes crinkling a little bit at the corners.

(Sometimes, the love in his heart dims into something quiet, just for a second, but Leo smiles at him like that and it jumpstarts like a bass drum.)

“Hey, Jace?” he asks, something smug hidden in the timbre of his voice. 

Jason sighs, but decides to humor him, a little smile tugging at the corners of his mouth. “Yes?”

“Can we…” Leo trails off, ducks down a little, and looks up at Jason through his eyelashes as if Jason wouldn’t give him the world on a silver platter if he asked for it. “Can we get Indian?”

Jason’s smile grows against his will, even as he rolls his eyes in response to Leo’s question. “What kind of idiot do you think I am?” he asks rhetorically, intending to stop there - but he sees Leo’s smile dip a little bit, feels more than sees Leo’s shoulders start to curl in just the littlest bit, and finishes, “Of course we can, sweetheart. Tikka masala, obviously.”

\---

The doorbell rings.

“Coming! Just a sec.”

Jason pokes his head up from the couch, guessing it’s the Indian food - nobody else really rings their doorbell, at least without telling them they’ll be coming over beforehand - but Leo doesn’t flinch.

“Hey, baby?” he says, hand still gently moving through Leo’s hair. 

Leo hums and shift a little, stretching himself out like a cat on Jason’s chest.

“Indian’s here, love, I gotta get up.” Leo groans in response but gets up anyway, pulling up his crutches as he stands. 

“I'll grab plates?” he says, tossing Jason his wallet while he walks to the kitchen. Jason catches it (pretty expertly, he thinks - not even a fumble or anything) and smiles. 

“Bowls, maybe, for the chicken at least.” He gets up too, walking over to the door. 

Jason opens the door - takes the bag - checks the price - pays the delivery guy - gets his change - gives the guy eight bucks (tip, maybe too much for what they got but he's got the money to give so who cares) - thanks him for coming in the rain - closes the door.

There's something comforting about the monotony of it all, he thinks as he turns around with the food in hand. Leo's in the kitchen, setting up bowls and plates with forks and knives. He thinks about asking Leo to do chopsticks instead - it'd probably be easier, with the chicken - but decides against it; there's no use stressing Leo out with something that doesn't even matter all that much, and it'll only make him feel worse about the day.

Jason walks over, flicks the radio on as he goes, sets the plastic bag and the wallet on the table. The radio turns on with a burst of static before settling on whatever station they'd had playing last.

 _“-ext up is a song from Hozier's newest album,_ Wasteland, Baby! _, titled ‘Almost (Sweet Music)’._ ”

“Huh,” Jason says as the beat kicks up. “I didn't realize he'd come out with a new album. That's the guy that wrote the church song, right?”

Leo hums, thoughtful even as he takes the masala and the rice carton out of the box. “ _Take Me To Church_ , yeah. Cool guy.”

 _I came in from the outside_ _  
_ _Burnt out from the joy ride_ _  
_ _She likes to roll here in my ashes anyway_

“Have you listened to him?”

Leo brightens a little bit. “Yeah, he’s basically all of my work playlist. God, what a blessing, I swear. His music is so good.”

 _Be still my foolish heart,_ _  
_ _Don't ruin this on me_

\---

“What movie do you want to watch?” Jason sets the bowls held in his hands on the coffee table in front of the couch. He sits down, pulls the beer (for him) and the root beer (for Leo) out of the crook of his arm, and places them on the table too - but still no response. 

“Leo?” Jason calls again, a little bit louder this time.

The bathroom opens with a creak - Jason makes a mental note to remind Leo to oil it whenever he gets the chance (which might not be for a while, actually, considering the new car Leo's working on) - and Leo walks out, wiping a hand on his sweatpants. 

“Hey - sorry, the filter was kinda loud. What's up?” He looks up after examining his hands to make sure it's clean and sees the food laid out, drinks on coasters, Jason twisted over the back of the couch in order to see Leo better. “Ah, shit. I took too long, didn’t I?”

Jason shakes away the words with a wave of his hand. “Nah, it’s fine, don’t worry about it. Just wanted to know if you something specific you wanted to watch tonight.”

Leo drops his crutches down next to the couch, leaning them against the side table, and inks into the couch cushions with a long sigh. He hums, thinking. “How about Queer Eye?”

Jason’s eyes light up, and a grin spreads across his face. “Yes! God, the new season just came out, didn’t it? Yeah, let’s watch that.” 

Leo smiles, and sinks back into his chair, eyes closed peacefully. He looks - content, really, to be (happily) honest. Jason reaches out and brushes his hand through Leo’s curls, smiling softly when he has to untangle his fingers after getting caught in a knot.

God, Jason remembers all too well when he had to fight to suppress urges like that, when he and Leo had been too stuck in their own heads to see what had been right in front of them.

Shit, he’s glad that period of his life is over. That shit was _torture._

He feels a bit of pressure push against his hand and lets his eyes refocus, settling on a half-smile and lidded brown eyes. 

“Hey,” Leo whispers.

Jason smiles, his grin probably a little too wide, but he can’t bring himself to care. “Hey. You doin’ okay?”

“Yeah, I’m good.” Leo nods a little bit, pushing his head into the palm of Jason’s hand. “Could you pass me my plate, please?”

“Yeah, of course.” He leans forward and grabs Leo’s dinner, the TV remote, and his phone off the table. The bowl gets passed to Leo, garnering a quiet _“thank you”_ from him; he keeps the remote and his phone.

Jason turns the TV on and switches the channel to their XBox (yes, they have an XBox, they deserve it, okay? Don't judge them), using the controller to flick his way over to Netflix. 

“ _The 100… The Magicians… Sex Education…_ ugh, there's so many shows I want to start watching - and no Queer Eye! Jesus. I'll just look it up.”

Leo's toes dig underneath Jason's thighs, unnaturally warm despite the coolness of the room. He lets one of his hands drop off the controller and wrap itself around Leo's ankle.

“Let me, okay? You chill out a little bit, start eating, I'll put the show on.” One of Leo's hands stretches out for the controller. 

Jason smiles softly and nods, passing over the remote.

\---

“Hey, sweetheart?” Jason leans over and rests one hand on Leo’s thigh. “You okay?”

Leo’s head swivels. “What? No - I. I’m fine? Wh - um. Why?”

“You’re fidgeting, baby,” Jason says, smiling with a hint of concern hidden underneath it, and the thing about it is -

He’s right, too. 

Leo can’t seem to just sit still, toes twitching against Jason’s thigh and fingers tapping restlessly on his own, trying to keep himself from reaching out to dismantle the remote. 

(After the Incident with the Toaster - which Leo still maintains doesn’t deserve the title of “Incident”, because it really wasn’t that bad (his eyebrows grew back, okay?) - Jason decided that he’s not allowed to mess with their electronics. Leo knows he could make them all better, though, and knowing that is almost worse than any problems they might have in the first place.)

“Huh.” Leo stops jiggling his leg. “I. Huh. I didn’t even realize. I’m fine, I think, just. Feel weird, I guess. I dunno.”

Jason wraps a cool hand around his ankle (which is still moving, why is it still moving) and, well - that’s better, Leo thinks, because he doesn’t feel the urge to move his legs anymore, but he’s still got this weird feeling in his chest…

“Better?” Jason asks, one finger stroking the tender bone of Leo’s ankle, and he nods.

“Yeah, sort of, but - let me just -” He turns back, grabs a pillow, sets it on the floor. Almost just on instinct, he slides off the couch, absentmindedly knocking Jason’s hand off of his foot. 

He folds his leg underneath him and lets his other thigh stretch out, and - there it is.

All of it - the tapping, the fidgeting, the weird cold feeling settled in the hollow of his chest - just… stops.

Jesus Christ, what a relief. Like - obviously, Leo knew he wasn’t going to keep moving _forever_ , but sometimes it’s hard to remember that when he can’t seem to get himself to stop.

Leo breathes out a long sigh and sinks back between Jason’s shins, feeling them bracket in his shoulders with something akin to relief. His eyes focus and his mind closes in - this.

This is all he needs, really - just Jason’s hand in his hair, Jason’s legs closing in on him, Jason’s voice floating around him…

Jason.

He places a cautious hand into Leo’s curls and Leo pushes back into it, sighing. “Better?” Jason asks again, this time with what sounds like a smile in his voice, and Leo nods.

Something about this moment feels - fragile almost. Like something he can’t afford to break with his voice.

“Okay. I’m going to press play, sweetheart. Pay attention to it for me, okay?”

Leo nods again. 

He can do that.

**Author's Note:**

> title is from intertwined because i'm a sucker for song lyrics and dodie clark owns my entire soul
> 
> let me know what you thought!


End file.
